Well lets hope Sarkozy stays in power then...the dude seems to have his head screwed on a lot better than the socialists in France. It is interesting though that France seems to have a bigger problem integrating minorities than either USA or UK does (fine we have some problems with pakistanis but on the whole minorities have fitted in well).
The rioting thing, well what some might argue is that uprising against authority is actually a very 'French' ideal. Think of the Revolution 1789, 1848, 1870, 1968 'dans la rue'...it seems the overthrow of the 'ancien regime' is still strongly in the mindset of French ideals, thus if you are pissed off with the government go fight for your rights and bring the fuckers down.
Interestingly in none of the years I posted above did Britain have any kind of social uprising (though many other parts of europe did), the idea of overthrowing a government is not 'hardwired' into us in the same romantic way. We accept authority passively, and grumble and moan but do nothing. It seems to me very different in France.
So yes these guys are a pain in the arse, and I can understand why you feel there are so many problems with them. But in a way it seems part of a long tradition of social upheaval being expressed in a very French way.
